Announcements
Our most recent software release was made July 10th. For more information about our Software Releases, please visit our Recent Updates page.
We've introducted the Point2 Agent Getting Started Guide - a great new online resource for our members who are just starting out with Point2 Agent. This guide is located at www.point2agent.com under Document Downloads or by clicking here.
iPhone 3G Launch Day - A Live-Blog from the Trenches
When you consider the type of individual that works for a tech company such as Point2, certain assumptions are usually made. For example, most people would generalize that Point2 employees are the type of people who are incredibly passionate about what they do, thrive on consistent innovation, and have a deep understanding of technology as it relates to business. However, it is this combination of passion, quest for innovation, and tech knowledge that leads to what some would consider an unpleasant side effect - an unbridled gadget lust that borders on obsession.
Think about it, all of us here at Point2 are so engaged with technology on a day-to-day basis that any shiny new widget that could theoretically improve productivity (or just make us look awesome) is pined for in the worst way.  It comes as no surprise then that when Apple announced that its iPhone 3G was coming to Canada via Rogers on July 11th, almost all employees marked their (Outlook) calendars for the special day and planned to make provisions in order to purchase one. However, as launch day approached the more astute amongst us realized that supply and demand were not in our favor; there was simply going to be far too few phones available to fill the demand that was ignited, especially since they would not be sold online or in Apple stores. Realizing this, there was only one course of action left to guarantee a phone - the infamous "camp out", which myself and two other Point2 employees participated in, and as such are now the new owners of shiny new iPhone 3Gs.
Now let me set one thing straight. Even the most diehard gadget-nerd will tell you that any purchase worth camping-out for, be it an iPhone, a Nintendo Wii, or Boxing Day sales at your local Best Buy will not restore the small part of your dignity that you will lose when you camp out. The realization usually comes when you are sitting in a lawn chair outside a store in the middle of the night and all of a sudden think to yourself "I could be asleep in my bed right now!" or "I'm doing all this just for _____?" Just think about it this way, do you know anyone that actually wears their camp-out experience as a badge of honor? Most people simply would rather lie and say that they just walked into a store and purchased their new gadget rather than admit to camping out when they are showing it off to their peers.
It is with this reasoning in mind that over the course of my roughly 4 hour wait I endeavored to keep a live blog of events in hopes of chronicling my quest for an iPhone and the camping process, so anyone that feels inclined to go out and get a new iPhone 3G will know what they are getting themselves into. So without further ado: Click here to live through iPhone 3G launch day with Chris, minute-by-minute.
Also, check out next month's issue of The Point Online for a complete review of the iPhone 3G, tips and tricks to get the most out of your iPhone, as well as a rundown on some of the early real-estate centric apps that have been developed.
by Chris de Jong, Marketing Coordinator
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Featured Site of the Month
www.signaturehomeswilmington.com
This website features many custom touches, including custom header graphic, custom menus, and updated content.
www.signaturehomeswilmington.com is designed by Suzanne Stephens, one of the Point2 Agent Approved Vendor web designers.
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Featured Listings
View this fantastic custom built lakefront home with detailed listing photos and features description.
Listing Agent: Vinnie Alonzo, Keller Williams Realty Birmingham
Spread out in this large home in a rural setting, with harbour and countryside views. This listing is showcased by many excellent listing photos.
Listing Agent: Lynne Sydenham, RE/MAX Property MREINZ
Live in Las Vegas style in an elegant, lakefront custom home with executive finishings. With photos taken at different times of day, the property is highlighted well.
Listing Agent: Cheryl Keown, Coldwell Banker Wardley Real Estate Summerlin
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Customizing Your Killer Website - Part 2
Add Info That Attracts
In our last issue we started the journey to Customizing A Killer Website by learning the importance of updating your website content to be relevant, personalized, and informative to visitors. In this issue we will consider the various types of information you can include on your website which may attract more visitors.
Website visitors have gone to your website because they are looking for something specific. Your website is not only a valuable marketing and lead generating tool, it is also an area where a wealth of information can be displayed for those who are searching for it. What do visitors want from a real estate website? Most likely they want listings. No doubt, adding your listings to your website and establishing Handshake agreements were some of the very first things you did. (If not, do that now. Here's how.) Aside from listings, visitors to your website are looking for information about market conditions, specific areas and neighborhoods, tips and advice for their home buying or selling process, and more.
You are bound to have more success with visitors staying longer on your website and returning more often if you have something of substance to offer them. Be sure to include information about the areas you service. Even adding specific pages on your website detailing local information, amenities, school information, and local politics may be helpful. There are some great default reports that can be accessed by website visitors that give some tips and suggestions for home buyers and sellers. We encourage you to customize these default reports and include your own touches. Write up your own reports and upload them for your website visitors to access and download. Some suggestions for reports may be local market conditions for the previous months or related housing stats.
The more information you can provide to website visitors the more value you offer them. Providing timely and relevant information to prospective clients helps build their trust in you and your expertise even before they contact you.
POINTERS:
- provide up-to-date, relevant real estate information
- edit and upload your own Reports which visitors can access
- include details about areas you specialize in such as neighborhoods, schools, local amenities, etc.
Now that you have the content and the information on your website, you need to make sure that it 'looks good'. Our next article in this series will discuss some basic Do's and Don't's of Customizing Your Killer Website. See you next month!
by Megan Lust, Content Developer
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Exposure Engine™ Partner of the Month - Hotpads
Hotpads' innovative map-based search strives to give consumers and real estate professionals the best communication platform for sharing information about available housing. The site focuses on rental properties and operates across the United States, providing widespread exposure for listings on the site.
View what a listing looks like on Hotpads
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Point2 Academy Coaching Highlight
We often get the question "How can I make my site more visible, so that I get more traffic?". Making yourself found is sometimes a daunting task, but there are key things that you can do to facilitate getting more website visitors. For some practical suggestions and tips, listen to a session by Blackwater Consulting Group's Mike Parker, entitled "How to Make Sure Your Website is Not Like a Billboard on the Moon" (November 30).
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Thoughts from Point2 Academy
Starting a Good Habit - Meta Information and Crawlers
Shakespeare once penned, "How use doth breed a habit in a man." He was definitely onto something with that statement, as studies have shown that it can take up to twenty-one days for an action to become a habit. This usually means that the individual needs to make a concerted effort to repeat the same action in order for the subconscious to register it as an action that should be retained, as it will be likely continually repeated in the future. In this respect, a search engine crawler, or spider, is a lot like man.
Search engines will note specific terms that are being entered by the online visitor, crawl through sites with that meta information, and make note of the websites being accessed. The more times the website meets specific criteria and is being accessed, the more importance, or ranking, it is given. It becomes a "habit" for the crawler to go to that site because it meets the criteria of the online visitor, and is being accessed and used on a regular basis.
So, how do you get the crawlers to notice you? Working on your Search Engine Optimization is key. The terms that those visitors enter into the search engines need to be placed in your metatags, meta descriptions, and page content. That signals to the spiders that this page is relevant to the visitor, and the spider creates a "web" of pages that fit the criteria. Once the spider visits your site enough times, it will become habitual for it to recommend your site to visitors, which means that your ranking gets better and better with time.
The key here is to have the meta information that will help those crawlers to initially notice you. With your Point2 Agent site, you initially get default meta information for all of your website pages, which can be fully customized by your or the company you hire to do your SEO work. The key thing to consider is to use terms and words that not only relate to real estate terms, but also the cities and neighborhoods you service. Think about what you would enter into a search engine when looking for a home. The answer may surprise you!
Now, think about the specific pages on your site. Each page is likely focused on a different topic or issue facing online buyers and sellers. The meta information for each individual page will yield more results if it is customized for that page. For instance, if the page is directed towards sellers, then terms related to selling are more applicable and should be part of that meta information. This helps the crawlers target the pages that make the most sense for the online visitor.
More than anything, if "use doth breed a habit in a man", then regularly reviewing your SEO work and considering additional terms and phrases will begin a habit within yourself to habitually check your meta information and ensure that it is still relevant and helpful.
For detailed instructions on how to access your meta information for the pages on your Point2 Agent website, you can either read the User Manual or watch the Training Video.
by Tanya Spilchak, Education Specialist
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Q & A with Point2 Agent Support
Some of the top questions we get in the Support Department are about working with images within your website content. Our User Manual provides instructions on editing your website content, including uploading images. Here are a few questions with answers to help you get started on the right track:
Q: When I upload my images to the content editor and click OK, the image doesn't appear, just little white boxes show. What's wrong?
A: Usually, this is due to a security setting within Internet Explorer 7. All you need to do is add your website address/domain name to the Trusted Sites list in Internet Explorer. Follow the User Manual steps.
Q: How do I wrap the text around my images in the custom content editor?
A: When you upload an image you have the ability to select the alignment for the image. If you choose Right or Left alignment, the text will wrap around the image. You can also select the horizontal or vertical spacing to give more room between the image and the wrapped text. For more information, visit our User Manual.
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Providing Knockout Customer Service Online
Customer service in any industry is undeniably one of the most important keys to a successful business with return clientele. Ensuring you provide the best level of customer service to current and prospective clients will help your business grow. If you have provided outstanding customer service then chances are your clients will talk about their pleasant experience. Referral business can account for a large percentage of your new clients. Your website is a key opportunity to provide customer service to your clients or potential clients, even without having direct contact personally with them yet.
How can you be sure that you and your website is providing the knockout customer service needed to boost your business?
 Visitors to your website are looking for information and listings. Provide timely and relevant information on your website that is easily accessible. This may include having some reports and other information available for easy download from your site. Make sure that you have a way to direct visitors to the Reports area so they don't have to search everywhere. This means making sure your menu buttons are labeled clearly and use hyperlinks in your content to the specific area, if suitable. Your listings page should one of the first few menu buttons available to select. Navigation to that page should be as easy as possible, as that is likely the main reason a visitor is on your site. Be sure that all the listing information on your website is current and easy to search. If they can't find what they are looking for within the first minute on your website they are likely to click off and go somewhere else.
An important aspect of your website is to ensure that visitors have as many options to contact you as possible. Include contact forms and also your contact information in as many places as possible on your website. If a visitor decides to contact you but can't find any means to do so, they won't waste time digging around for your phone number or email address. Be accessible by making yourself available everywhere possible on your website. In this way you can let your website be of service to them, thus providing customer service indirectly.
Another method of providing additional information is by using a blog. Blogs are an amazing platform for sharing information that is of interest to the public. Blogs are indexed well in search engines, which is another great reason to keep updating and posting to them regularly. Your blog is a way to establish a reputation and relationship with potential clients as a real estate professional who knows the market conditions, knows the in's and out's of real estate transactions, and also shares an interest in the community. From a customer service perspective, having an area where you post updates about timely topics shows that you are in-tune with what is happening in your industry and in your community. This is important to consumers in building confidence that you will take good care of them.
Once a prospect makes contact with you, either via email or through your website, it is vital to respond to their inquiry promptly. A personal reply by email or phone is a key way to impress potential clients. So many experiences have been shared within the real estate community about how impressed a prospect was when they received a call within minutes or hours from their initial contact. This type of excellent customer service can gain you a client for life! If you are unavailable to respond personally within a reasonable amount of time, perhaps due to traveling or being involved in showing appointments for a few hours, it may be a good idea to implement an Email Auto-responder. The auto-responder can inform those who emailed you that you are happy they emailed and that you will send them a reply within a stated period of time. If you give a specific time-frame in which you will reply then it is very important to follow-through and contact them. Customers will notice if you reply to their email the next day instead of within 2 hours like your auto-responder stated.
Taking these few suggestions and implementing them will ensure that you are recognized as one who provides excellent customer service online. Since more and more consumers are using the internet to search for listings and agents than ever before, it is imperative to your business to provide the best online experience possible for visitors to your site. Those visitors are potential prospects, and hopefully eventually clients!
by Megan Lust, Content Developer
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The Buzz Around the Point2 Community
Successful management of online leads is important. Learn from other Members exactly how they meet the unique challenges of working with online leads on our Message Board. Read the entire thread here.
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Spice Up Your Site!
Create a Website That Captures Interest
Spice up your Point2 Agent website with the User Manual, it has tips and tricks with fun suggestions on how to customize your website to suit your liking. While the Point2 Agent website offers lots of different default content, you have the ability to play around with more than you might first notice. Instructions for editing colors, graphics, images, buttons, HTML, and tons of more fun extras can be found here.
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Tell Us What You Think
We really want to know what our members think. Tell us your opinions and testimonials about Point2 software, features, people, customer service, resources, basically anything really! Submit your feedback and testimonials to us at: testimonials@point2.com (Please do not submit any support issues to this email address.)
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Your Resources
As a Point2 member, there are a number of resources that are at your disposal at any given time:
 User Manual - contains textual instructions as to how to use, manage, and update components of your website and accompanying marketing aspects. Find it online at http://agent.point2.com/help
 Getting Started Guide - Not sure where to start? The new Getting Started Guide is a perfect way to get started with your Point2 Agent website immediately. Find it online under the Document Downloads area on www.Point2Agent.com or a direct link here.
 Training Videos - visually goes through the instructions and information that is found in the User Manual. Find the corresponding video on each page of the User Manual, or view the entire list
 Message Board - ask questions, provide responses, review information from moderators and others in the Point2 community. Find the Message Board here.
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The Point Online
